Roxana Saberi

Roxana Saberi (26 April 1977-) was an American journalist for Al-Jazeera who was detained by Iran from 31 January to 11 May 2009 on charges of espionage.

Biography
Roxana Saberi was born on 26 April 1977 in Belleville, New Jersey to an Iranian father and Japanese mother. Her family moved to North Dakota when she was six months old, and she graduated with honors from Fargo North High School, being in the school's hall of fame. In 1997 she graduated from Concordia College in Minnesota with a degree in French and communications, and in 1997 she became "Miss North Dakota". Later, she gained a master's degree in journalism at Northwestern University and then gained another master's degree in international relations from Cambridge, playing for the university soccer team while there. In 2003, she moved to Iran, hoping to work on another master's degree, and she was a freelance journalist for BBC while there. She worked with NPR, ABC Radio, and IPS in addition, but on 31 January 2009 she was arrested by the Iranian government on charges of espionage. She was sentenced to eight years in prison for "admitting" to the espionage charges, as the authorities said that she would be released if she admitted the crime. Saberi was subjected to psychological and mental pressure while in prison, called "white torture", something saved for females; males were regularly tortured. On 11 May 2009 she was released from prison after her appeal succeeded, and her eight-year prison sentence was suspended. After her release, she was named as Al Jazeera America's senior producer and a correspondent.